Puppet MastersS


Laptop

Chain of Guesses: FBI Director Comey admits US cannot confirm Russia provided DNC/Podesta emails to Wikileaks

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 24 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
Comey
© The InquisitrFBI Director James Comey
In congressional testimony FBI Director Comey slips out that US intelligence does not know how Russia passed on stolen emails to Wikileaks, revealing that the entire Russiagate scandal is based on guesses.

Ploughing through the testimony FBI Director James Comey gave to the House Intelligence Committee on 19th March 2017, I came across an exchange he had with Representative Adam Schiff, which has gone entirely unreported and the importance of which has been entirely [over]looked.

This exchange shows that the US intelligence community admits that Russian intelligence did not have direct contact with Wikileaks, and did not pass on the stolen Podesta and DNC emails to Wikileaks.

The exchange between Schiff and Comey reads as follows

Comment: See also:

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Radar

Former Israeli minister of defence: ISIS har once 'apologized' to Israel for attacking IDF soldiers


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 13:09 UTC
ISIS militants
© Dabiq / Global Look Press
Tel Aviv remains so "neutral" in the Syrian conflict that even Islamic State terrorists have on at least one occasion "apologized" to Israel for mistakenly attacking IDF soldiers in the occupied Golan Heights, according to a former Israeli Defense Minister.TrendsIslamic State, Syria unrest

Speaking about the wider Israeli policy of "neutrality" in Syria, former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon accidentally acknowledged that Israel has an open communications channel with an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) cell which operates in Gollan Heights.

"There was one case recently where Daesh opened fire and apologized," Ya'alon said on Saturday, as cited by the Times of Israel.
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Whistle

Mattis accuses Russia of arming the Taliban


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 21:11 UTC
Taliban
© ReutersTaliban members
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said that Washington "will confront Russia" after a top US military commander claimed Moscow is "sending weapons" to the Taliban. No specifics or evidence were provided to support the claims which Moscow has previously denied.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Mattis in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday, the head of the US and international forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson said the US "continue to get reports of this [Russia's] assistance" to Taliban insurgents.


Comment: Made up reports? from Israel? just a ploy?


The NATO commander, who Mattis praised as "one of our most experienced officers in the field and one of our most serious strategic thinkers," was asked "to address the influx of Russian weapons into Afghanistan and showing up in Taliban hands" by a journalist from the Washington Post. The general didn't exactly answer the question of what the Pentagon was "going to do to stop the Russians from sending these weapons," but said he was "not refuting" the accusation.

Earlier in the day, a senior US military official speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters in Kabul there was intelligence data suggesting Moscow is allegedly providing machine guns and other medium-weight weapons to the Taliban, AP reported.

Addressing the issue at the briefing, Mattis said Washington "will engage with Russia diplomatically," and is "going to have to confront Russia, where what they're doing is contradictory to international law or denying the sovereignty of other countries."


Comment: Wow that is so...um...self-reflective?


"Any weapons being funneled here from a foreign country would be a violation of international law," the US Defense Secretary, who is in Afghanistan to talk to President Ghani and his ministers "directly and at length" after President Trump "directed a review of [US] policy in Afghanistan," added.

Comment: Without proof and justification, and there seems to be none, the US should shut up and walk away. There is no advantage to stringing out the Afghanistan conundrum unless it is the only way the US can be a thorn on Russia's continent which is, of course, a whole different agenda. Russia doesn't have to 'assert influence' in the region...it HAS influence earned with respect, and stands the best chance of creating a workable solution in Afghanistan.

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Chess

An EU-Russia strategic partnership may be desired, but amid sanctions is unlikely


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 01:05 UTC
Lavrov Mogherini
© Sergei Karpukhin/ReutersRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Frederica Mogherini, the European Union's Foreign Policy Chief
The EU would like to revive the "perspective of a strategic partnership" with Moscow, which however would be "surreal" while mutual sanctions remain, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said after meeting with the Russian FM Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. "Our bilateral cooperation is not frozen," Mogherini told journalists on Monday. "My visit here is the most evident demonstration of that."

"It is true that it is not any more what it used to be or what we would have liked it to be. For years, the European Union and Russia were working on the perspective of a strategic partnership. We would like to go back to a situation of that kind," the EU foreign policy chief said, noting however that it "would be quite surreal to consider each other strategic partners and have sanctions."

"Our sanctions are not an objective in themselves," Mogherini insisted, citing the issue of the "full implementation of the Minsk Agreements by all sides" as a precondition for lifting EU sanctions against Moscow.

Lavrov however questioned the very logic of sanctioning Moscow for the alleged failure to comply with the Minsk Agreements, amid all Kiev's attempts to sabotage the peace process. "The apparent sabotage by the Kiev leadership of everything that is written in the Minsk Agreements should meet some reaction from those who patronize this government," Lavrov noted, speaking alongside the EU foreign policy chief. He pointed out that Ukraine "has been trying to change the agreements, radically rewrite them in order to achieve their goals, which may lead the process to a deadlock."

Comment: Does this make the US the elephant in the room? Reason over insanity...good choice.

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Pirates

Daesh purge foreign fighters over spying concerns


Sputnik
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 02:19 UTC
ISIS
© Lima Charlie News
As Daesh terrorists in the Syrian city of Raqqa were surrounded by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the terrorists began massive purges of foreign fighters, whom they suspect of espionage.

Daesh terrorist group, which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries, has recently been executing its foreign members as the group is suspecting them of espionage, local media reported, citing a source from intelligence.

As the group has been recently surrounded by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their de-facto capital of Raqqa in Syria, the concerns of the Daesh local terrorists on espionage have increased, an intelligence source said, according to the Iraqi News outlet.

On Sunday, the Kurdish-led SDF said it gained control over all strategic roads leading to Raqqa, cutting off the terrorist group's ability to receive reinforcements and arms.

The number of foreign members that have joined the group over the years of its existence is estimated to be around 30,000. The terrorist group also recruits or coerces jihadists from areas under its control in Iraq and Syria, according to the US intelligence.

In March, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Daesh recruited 90 percent less of foreign members in 2016 that a year ago.

Comment: Propaganda or self-imploding?

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Info

Amid govt shutdown fear, Trump may withdraw border wall funding demand


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:59 UTC
Donald Trump
© Aaron P. Bernstein / Reuters
As a possible government shutdown approaches, President Donald Trump has walked back previous demands that funding for a border wall be included in the upcoming spending bill, saying he can postpone that until September.

In a private meeting Monday, Trump informed around 20 reporters that he would be willing to compromise in order to avoid a government shutdown, according to the Associated Press.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) called the president's shift "good for the country."

"Now the bipartisan and bicameral negotiators can continue working on the outstanding issues," Schumer added, according to NBC News.
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Attention

Entire US Senate to descend on White House for North Korea briefing


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:53 UTC
Donald Trump (R) and Rex Tillerson
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
The Trump administration has asked every member of the US Senate to meet at the White House on Wednesday for a briefing on North Korea, in a rare and unusual move, amid mounting tensions with Pyongyang.

All 100 senators have been asked to attend the Wednesday briefing, which will be conducted by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday.

Although administration officials often travel to Capitol Hill to address members of Congress on foreign policy matters, it is unusual for the entire Senate to go to the White House, and for all four of the aforementioned officials to be involved.

Comment: Also read: US nuclear submarine docks in S. Korea amid reports of massive artillery drills by North

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Attention

US nuclear submarine docks in S. Korea amid reports of massive artillery drills by North


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:48 UTC
USS Michigan arrives for a regularly scheduled port visit in Busan, South Korea,
© Jermaine Ralliford / Reuters The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Michigan arrives for a regularly scheduled port visit while conducting routine patrols throughout the Western Pacific in Busan, South Korea, April 24, 2017.
A US nuclear submarine armed with guided missiles has made a port call in South Korea, while Pyongyang is reportedly holding massive long-range artillery drills amid muscle-flexing in the region and rising tensions between Washington and North Korea.

The USS Michigan nuclear submarine arrived in South Korea on Tuesday "during a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific," according to a statement issued by the US Pacific Fleet.

The submarine is one of the four Ohio-class nuclear vessels, one of the largest in the world "measuring more than 560 feet long and weighing more than 18,000 tons when submerged."
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Airplane

Trump may extend laptop ban to flights from Britain to US


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:39 UTC
electronic devices banned on airplanes
© The Sun
US President Donald Trump is considering banning laptops and tablets from aircraft cabins on all flights from the UK to America.

Last month, both the US and British governments barred passengers from bringing large electronic devices on board incoming flights from some Middle Eastern countries, following concerns that terrorists had perfected a new type of airline bomb.

British security chiefs have now been warned Trump could extend the security restrictions to flights from parts of Europe. Britain could be affected, according to The Times.
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Stock Up

Stocks surge on French election results


RT
Mon, 24 Apr 2017 12:33 UTC
euro
© Toby Melville / Reuters
Following the first round of voting in the French presidential election the euro briefly rose to a five-month peak, and the country's main stock index surged nearly four percent in early trading Monday.

The euro was up about one percent at $1.0856 at 9:10am GMT after peaking earlier at the highest level against the US dollar since mid-November.

At the same time, investor demand to hold French bonds over German debt tightened sharply to below 50 basis points for the first time since late January.
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